| How to secure job interviews in today’s tough economic climate
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| | By Tony Restell,
Founding Director of
Top-Consultant.com
... continued from
page 1
2. Having identified
the handful of roles for
which you are genuinely
an ideal candidate, have
you then taken the time
to craft a tailored CV
for each and every one
of those applications?
(Cautionary note: each
employer is looking for
a different balance of
skills and experience,
so the “one CV fits all”
approach inevitably
results in your
application coming
across as far less
compelling when it hits
the recruiter’s desk).
3. Are you working
with some reputable
recruitment agencies? It
often comes as a
surprise to candidates,
but across our industry
some 50%-60% of hires
are still made via
recruitment agencies –
despite employers’ best
efforts to hire direct
and avoid the expense of
recruitment agency fees.
This statistic holds
true, even in this
economic climate – so if
you’re not working with
recruitment agencies you
are harming the number
of roles you are being | |
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| | considered for.
(Cautionary note: for a
variety of very good
reasons, many of the
roles agencies are
working on are never
advertised directly by
the employer – so you
will simply never learn
of them if you aren’t
working with agencies
too).
4. Have you leveraged
your personal network?
One of the surest ways
to make it to the
interview rounds is to
have had a
recommendation from
within the firm that you
are a candidate the firm
really should be
interviewing. Networking
with your contacts at
firms may also uncover
openings that have yet
to be signed off,
meaning you could be
interviewed and could
secure the role without
it ever even going out
to the market. How’s
that for stacking the
odds in your favour?!
Ask yourself – have you
truthfully researched in
depth which of your
contacts could assist
with an approach to the
various firms you are
considering applying to?
Again – this comes down
to putting your efforts
into ensuring the
quality rather than the
quantity of your | |
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| | applications.
(Cautionary note: I have
yet to meet a candidate
who is doing this with
the rigour and
thoroughness necessary
to uncover all the
opportunities in their
network – so even if
you’re an active
networker there’s almost
certainly lots of room
for improvement).
The above list is not
exhaustive, but should
be enough to highlight
the gulf between the
actions of a regular
consulting candidate and
someone who is focused
on uncovering and
applying only to roles
for which they are
ideally suited. Make
yourself one of the few
candidates adopting a
targeted approach like
this and you’ll be well
on your way to securing
your next consulting
role.
Related link: Tony
Restell will be leading
a candidate workshop
addressing every aspect
of securing a new
consulting role in these
difficult market
conditions. See:
Revitalising Your
Consulting Career --
Securing a Career Move
in Consulting in 2009.
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